PRESS RELEASE

Podbielski Contemporary is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition of Francesco Jodice in Berlin.

The Italian artist, photographer and filmmaker, Francesco Jodice (*1967) is exhibiting his international retrospective “Panorama” at Fotomuseum Winterthur. The show, which portrays 20 years of his artistic practice, runs until May 7th 2017.

Francesco Jodice lives in Milan, where he is Professor for Urban Visual Anthropology at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA). His works have been shown at Documenta11, the Venice Biennale, Bienal de Sao Paulo, Museo Nacional del PRADO, the Tate Modern, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and Castello di Rivoli, among others. Francesco Jodice – Panorama is jointly curated by Thomas Seelig and Francesco Zanot and organised in cooperation with CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia in Turin. A richly illustrated catalogue published by Spector Books accompanies the exhibition, showing the creative visual universe of Francesco Jodice in its totality. Conceived as a deconstructed anthology, the catalogue draws exciting connections between the fields of art, politics, philosophy, anthropology, urban planning, and geography.

Sunset Boulevard, 2014 - Ongoing

On January 27th 1951, the first nuclear explosion took place in the Nevada Desert, about 65 miles North - West of Las Vegas. During the following years more than a thousand atomic bombs were detonated in the Nevada test site. Explosions would eventually burst in the sky over Las Vegas. The Stardust Hotel and Casino opened the doors on July 2nd 1958. Its 70 meters high neon sign was made out of 11.000 light bulbs and 2km of neon tubes. During the night it could be seen at a distance of 100km in the desert. Miss Atomic Bomb, a pin-up girl chosen for her “glowing gaze”, dressed up in the stardust nuclear cloud brought gamblers and hotel clients through the desert to watch the nuclear explosion tests. Sunglasses were provided to them as the only protection. On September 23rd 1992 “Divider” was detonated, it was the last of 1032 United States atomic bomb tests, which was by far more than the total amount of tests made by all other world countries. Stardust Hotel and Casino closed on November 1st 2006, last night clients were brought out of the casino to the tune of John Lennon “Nobody told me there’d be days like these / strange days indeed.”

In “Nobody Told Me”, Jodice deals with current political topics, metaphorically illustrating contemporary political precariousness.